Cotton picker doffer



Nov. 2, 1954 H, F PARKERTON y 2,693,071

COTTON PICKER DOFFER Filed April 5, 1951 #ammi/$7503?- rf/Pf maus Unitedl States Patent @ffice 2,693,971 Patented Nov. 2, 1954 CTTON PICKERDOFFER Howard F. Par-karton, South Gate, Calif.

Appiication April 5, 1951, Serial No. 219,377

3 v Claims. (Cl. 56-41) Generally, this invention relates to mechanicalcotton pickers. Particularly, it relates to doffer constructions for theremoval of cotton from rotating picking spindles of conventional cottonpicking machines.

Conventional cotton pickers include rotating heads each of which is seton a vertical axis and carries a series of radially extending rotatingspindles which pass open cotton bolls on cotton plants as the head isrotated and pick the exposed cotton from the bolls by reason of therotation of the spindles on their own axes and through slight barbing orroughening of the spindle surfaces. As the head rotates, thecotton-bearing spindles in turn pass rotating metallic doffer discsprovided with radially extending, vertically projecting rubber pads orfingers which wipe or strip the gathered cotton from the spindles asthey pass each other. Heretofore, these rubber fingers have been carriedon an annular rubber web clamped to the respective doifer disc by anotched rnetallic clamping disc as illustrated in the Hagen Patent2,247,682 of July l, 1941. These doer discs possess a number ofpractical objections including accidental dislodgment of the clampingdiscs and damage to spindles during operation, replacement costs andalso initial costs.

A principal object of the improvements hereof is to provide for lowinitial cost, to simplify replacements, and to avoid dangers ofmechanical injuries to picking spindles and associated parts bydisplacement or slippage of metal members of the doler discs while inoperation.

Another object is to provide for the industry a metalfree doffer disc.

A further object is to present an integral, all-plastic type of dolferdisc, such as an all-rubber disc.

It is a still further object of this invention to reduce replacementcosts and also reduce materially the weight of the doffer discs, which,considering the fact that forty such discs are used simultaneously oneach cotton-picking machine, is appreciable.

Other objects and the various improvement features of the invention willbe apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the followingspecification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view with parts broken away and shown insection showing a portion of a cottonpicker head with radiatingrotatable spindles and two of a vertical series of doffer discs of thisinvention arranged in operative relation to the picking spindles;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of one of the doifer discs as taken from theline 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the doier discs taken along line 33 ofFig. l;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross section on an enlarged scale and takenalong line 4 4 of Figure 2 illustrating the coheringor fused-type ofintegral union between the body of the doer disc and one of theoutstanding lingers or pads thereof, and is representative of a hardrubber disc and a tough, somewhat yieldable rubber dofling finger; and nFig. 5 is a longitudinal fragmentary section as indrcated by the line 55 of Figs. 2 and 4.

With reference to Fig. l, there is illustrated one of a plurality ofrotatable heads or supports mounted on a vertical axis on acotton-picking machine and carrying a plurality of radially projectingpicking spindles 12 which are rotated upon their own axes simultaneouslywith rotation of the head 10 so that the spindles 12 revolve bodilyaround the axis of the head 10. Spaced somewhat from the head 10 andspindles 12 is a vertically disposed rotary shaft 14 carrying thereon aplu,- rality of doifer discs 15 arranged in a vertical seriescorresponding with the number of picking spindles 12 on the head 10. Inpractice the uppermost of the doler discs 15 is held against a shoulder14o undercut in an upper portion of the shaft 14. As seen in each ofFigs. l, 2, and 3, the doffer discs l5 are provided with hubs 16 havingbores to receivethe shaft i4 and having key# ways to register withcorresponding keyways in the shaft 14 for reception of splines 18 vbywhich the doffer discs l5 are driven from the shaft 14.

Each of the dolfer discs 15 comprises a disc body 20 which is flat onits reverse or upper side except for a shallow'hub portion 21 oppositefrom the hub 16 on the other side or obverse side. Substantiallyintegrally formed with the disc body 2i) on its under or obverse side isa plurality of radially extending, outstanding doiiing pads or lingers22 spaced an appreciable distance from each other. The inner ends ofthese lingers 22 slope inward to the obverse face of the disc body 20 atan angle of approximately 45, such sloping being continuous so that theresultant sloping inner ends 23 intersect with said obverse face of thedisc body 20. This conliguration facilitates stripping of the cottonfrom the spindles and subsequent release of the cotton so collected.Also, the opposing sides of the various fingers 22 slope to the obverseface ofthe disc body 20 at a steeper angle than that of the sloping ends23, thereby yielding opposing sloping sides 24. Between the sloping sidewalls 24, flat, horizontally disposed tops 25 are provided, these beingparallel with the face of the disc body 26. As illustrated, the outerends of the fingers 22 are in the form of walls 26 which areperpendicular to the disc body 20.

The type of construction represented in Figs. l to 5 is such that thedisc Ztl is formed from thermosetting or thermoplastic material which isrelatively hard, although preferably slightly resilient, examples ofwhich are hard rubber compositions, the dolhng lingers 22 being producedfrom somewhat more yieldable material represented by the well knowntough tread stock used in the manufacture of automobile tires, thefingers 22 being applied to the disc body 20 in the molding operationand the whole being vulcanized in one operation so that an integral,homogeneous, fused or vulcanized union is produced as indicated at 28 inFigs. 4 and 5. Such a joint is a permanent, tenacious joint which nevercan be broken in practice apart from the breaking of the hard rubberdisc body 2li itself or the rupturing of one of the tough, resilientfingers 22 involved, as is inherent in such a cohesive fused type ofunion. Such an interlocking or cohesive, fuse-type of union is to bedistinguished from an adhesive type of bond existing between totallyunlike materials such as those resulting from the vulcanizing or bondingof rubber directly upon metal.

In practice, as above indicated, the plastic materials used have beenhard rubber compositions and more yieldable rubber such as tire treadstock which is tough and has long-wearing characteristics. Such rubbersmay be either natural or synthetic, as well understood in the art, andthe hard rubber may include a considerable proportion of reclaimedrubber or hard rubber dust as also well understood in the art. Hardrubber, for the disc body 20 is valuable, as distinguished from metal,because it is extremely light as compared with suitable metal discs, andalso because it offers a certain amount of resilience which resistsdamage such as is sometimes encountered from foreign materials in thecotton being picked from the bolls. Moreover, hard rubber discs do notresult in injury to the picking spindles if they come into contact witheach other. Of course, it is important to employ a tough, relativelyyielding tread rubber for the iingers 22 because such rubber has longlife as compared with hard rubber. While hard rubber fingers 22 could beemployed to a limited extent, nevertheless, lingers 22 made of such hardrubber would wear too rapidly from engagement with the spindles, andwould not satisfactorily strip off the cotton from the spindles.

While the indicated types of rubber have been found outstanding forpractical use, nevertheless it is possible to employ some other types ofthermosetting materials,

3. or thermoplastic materials, where the indicated toughness andpliability are present in the plastic materials used for the fingers 22,and where the disc bodies 20 are produced from plastics having sucienthardness a-s Well as the indicated resilience, particularly where theindicated types of fused or cohesive joints between the two plasticmaterials are produced during manufacture.

These may include the thermosetting synthetic phenolic types such asphenol-formaldehyde condensation products, and also the thermoplasticsynthetic polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene types, as well as` rubbersreinforced with resins of the indicated phenolic and styrene types.

In addition to the generally more satisfactory construe'- tion of thetype of doffing disc of- Figs. 1 to 5, which is all of rubber or ofother appropriate plastic materials which are thermosetting orthermoplastic, a big' factor is its low cost, both from the standpointof initiall cost and from the standpoint of replacement cost,c anotherimportant factor being a great reduction in weight over the formsheretofore known; for example, reduction' from about 2%- pounds to about1% pound per unit. A further important item in favorof thisconstruction'l is the protection which the hardfrubber dis'c body aordsto the picking spindle.

It is intended to protect al1 variations of the generic invention hereindisclosed which fall within the scope of the patent claims.

Il claim a's my invention:

,11. A doier unit for cotton picking machines including: a substantiallyrigid plastic disc body providing an axisof rotation; and ati-pluralityof spaced-radially directed outstanding ngers vkmounted adjacent theperiphery of said disc body on one face thereof, said ngers beingcomposed of slightly yieldable, tough, plastic material and beingpermanently secured to said disc body by a homogeneous union providing asubstantially integral joint, said plastic material-'of said disc bodybeing hard rubber and said plastic material of said fingers being toughrubber.

2. A doer unit as in claim l wherein the inner ends of said fingersslope 'continuously from the `tops thereof radially inward to pointsofintersection withsaidone face of said discbod'y.

3. A doler unitfas in'V claim 1 wherein said homogeneous union is afusion-type union.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED ST AT ES 4PATEIOIIS-

